Humbly now, with deep con­tri­tion,
We Thy mer­cy, Lord, en­treat!
Now, as mourn­ing, weep­ing, kneel­ing,
We bow down be­fore Thy feet.
Father, in the day of ang­uish,
And of dark­ness, and of shame,
Cling we to that pre­cious pro­mise
Made to us in Je­sus’ name.

For His sake—our great Re­deem­er—
Through His death of won­drous love,
Dare we to ap­proach the foot­stool
Of Thy migh­ty throne above:
Dare we, stained with such dis­hon­or,
Stained with sin, look up to Thee:
Dare we, with our loath­some gar­ments,
To the source of glo­ry flee.

Dare we pray, with ea­ger voic­es,
For Thy bless­ing and Thy grace;
For one ac­cent of for­giv­eness,
For one glim­mer of Thy face.
Aye, through Him who bore in sor­row—
Bore in want, and woe, and strife—
This same weight of hu­man weak­ness,
This same wea­ry hu­man life.

Thro’ His name, and by His mer­its,
Whom we wor­ship and adore,
For His bless­èd sake, we pray Thee,
Hear us—spare us ev­er­more.
By His hour of mor­tal weak­ness,
Give Thine err­ing child­ren strength,
That they bear the bur­den brave­ly,
That they win the crown at length.